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Indian Buffet Takes Over Old East Ocean Space

The space that used to be occupied by the cheap Chinese food place East Ocean (on 55th btw. Lex+3rd) has finally been filled by Apna Taj, an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet. I’m willing to go up to $11 for an all you can eat buffet, so this one (for $10.50) just makes it under the cap. It’s kind of ballsy to open up another Indian buffet 2 doors down from the upscale Darbar Grill (which is only 45 cents more expensive), and a ML reader has already sent me an email crying out for a head-to-head.

“Both hover just below $11, so they’re within your price-range. The newest buffet, Apna Taj, deserves a look just to see if it merits taking up the space of a Chinese restaurant you reviewed so highly. Their neighbor, Darbar Grill, goes the upscale route with a buffet that [the other day] featured 4 different types of salad, sweet potato croquettes, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, goat curry, Goan fish curry, palak paneer, a yogurty version of baingan bhartha, channa masala, daal, a made-to-order dosa station and 3 different desserts ranging from gulab jamun to crÃ¨me caramel. And surprisingly for Midtown East, I wasn’t the only Desi mixing chutneys over his sweet potatoes to make chaat. It seems like they’ve gotten themselves quite the following. Best regards, Omar”

I peeked into both on Friday, and even without trying them I think it’s kind of hard to not declare Darbar Grill the automatic winner. They have 3 times as many options as the newly opened Apna Taj, and the made to order dosa station kind of seals the deal. Clearly I need to try both, but sometimes looks do tell the story. And from the looks of this, Apna Taj is going to have to charge a lot less than $10.50 to lure people away from Darbar Grill.

Have ordered from Apna Taj for delivery. Nothing great. If you want an underrated Indian place with very good food (for me, even better than the upscale 58th street places), try Nirvana on Lexington between 39th and 40th street.